Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, finishes a television news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, March 28, 2017. 

Trying to follow the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russian meddling in the presidential election “is like following a mystery novel. You never know what’s going to happen next,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said.

But the Maine Republican isn’t trying to become even a minor character in the unfolding drama.

Collins told CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday that “although this has been a crazy year, the one thing that has remained constant is that the House never takes kindly to the Senate telling it how to operate or conduct its investigation.”

Collins and her Maine colleague, Sen. Angus King, an independent, each serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also looking into the issue but without the theatrics of the House panel.

Collins said the Senate committee’s chairman, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and its vice chairman, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., “are working hand in glove and given the membership of our committee, I am convinced that we will do a thorough, credible investigation and follow the evidence wherever it leads us.”

“I believe that our Senate investigation has far more credibility than the House investigation has at this point,” Collins told the CNN show.

The House panel’s leader, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has drawn considerable criticism for telling reporters and President Donald Trump about evidence he gathered during a White House visit where he saw material that he said showed American intelligence agencies had collected data on members of Trump’s transition team as an incidental offshoot of another investigation.

Democrats have called on Nunes to recuse himself, but Nunes has refused and House Speaker Paul Ryan has expressed support for the congressman’s leadership of the House probe.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.